Page 43 of Give Me Forever

He cocked a brow, smirking. "How come?"

"You've got all this charming sexiness going on. It's hard to keep my mind straight."

"Right." He narrowed his eyes. "And as to the confession, I can tell you. You only have to ask."

There was an awkward pause. Clearly he was waiting for me to ask him to break his word, but I just shook my head. My heart was hammering against my rib cage again. No, once we'd openly discussed that, things between us would shift. Right now, we could pretend last night had been a drunken slip between friends and nothing more.

"No. I made you promise, so I must have had a good reason for it," I said as I hopped down from my chair.

Sam did the same.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

“I'm making you coffee."

I jerked my head back. "How do you know I was about to do that?"

"You’ve been eyeing that coffee machine almost as much as you've been eyeing me. I don't like to read into things, but I'm going to take the hint that it means you really want coffee. More than you want me."

The tips of my breasts turned to hard nubs. I wasn't even going to wonder about that. My body and my brain clearly weren't working in sync today.

We both approached the coffee machine. I leaned against the kitchen sink and immediately remembered being in the exact same position last night. Sam had whispered in my ear, and I’d begged him not to kiss me, even though I had wanted it so badly. God, I still wanted it now. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye and saw him looking at me intently. Was he thinking about those moments as well?

And then, all of a sudden, I remembered all my confessions.

"Sam," I murmured. He exhaled sharply. "I'm sorry about last night. I shouldn't have blurted everything out."

His Adam's apple bobbed up and down. "I wanted you to tell me. I wanted to know. I've wondered so often where things went wrong. Why you wanted to end things. The real reason why you left."

"I never wanted you to think it was your fault." I could smell his shower gel, so fresh and clean. "You still use Nivea Men Fresh Ocean?" It brought back many vivid memories of him.

"I switched back to it recently," he replied with a grin.

He smelled so good. I sniffed him. I actuallysniffedhim. Then I leaned in even closer and brought my nose to his neck.

He groaned again, and then his mouth was on mine. I'd never felt anything like this before in my life. It was like he was kissing me for the first time, and yet it also felt like he’d never stopped. He knew what I liked, and he'd always been a great kisser. But now? Now he was perfect. His lips moved with precision. His hands were all over my body, on my upper thigh and my waist. Then one of them moved to my lower back, pressing me against his abdomen, which, yes, was as hard as I'd imagined.

I was melting in his arms. I put my palms on his shoulders as his right hand brushed back down my upper thigh. On instinct, I lifted my leg, wrapping it around him.

He groaned against my mouth, and the reverberations shook my body. Then he slid his hands under my ass and lifted me onto the counter. I was towering over him now, but I liked this angle. He kissed me until I was so turned on that there was no way he could mistake the tremors in my body. I pressed my thighs against the sides of his torso. I needed friction. God, I needed this man so badly.

He kissed from my mouth up to my ear.

"Avery," he groaned. “Fuck, how I missed this.”

He fisted my hair, tilting my head to one side and kissing my neck.

"Sam," I whispered. My voice was shaky, just like my body.

I curled my hands over his shoulders, tugging at his shirt. I moved closer to the edge of the counter, spreading my thighs wide. He pushed me slightly backward, and I gasped as a small explosion went through me.

Holy fuck. Did I just have a mini orgasm from pressing myself against the ridge of his jeans?

Abruptly, he pulled back. I blinked, confused, straightening up too. He looked at me intently and touched my face with the back of his fingers, feathering them down my chin and then the side of my neck. His eyes were on my lips.

"I want you, Avery. So damn bad. I want to keep kissing you. I want to make you come. I want to sink inside you."

I was done for. Every rational thought left my brain.

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